22 Ducere Est Servire: THE LEADERSHIP JOURNAL OF DALLAS BAPTIST UNIVERSITY Strategic Spiritual Leadership: The Interaction Between Spiritual Leadership and Strategic Management Jason Wood, Ph.D. Dr. Jason Wood (Leadership Studies, '22) is Associate Professor of Business at Paul Quinn College. Introduction When leaders underperform, they are often discouraged and even blamed by others, enduring the agony of leadership. While leadership is challenging, spiritual leaders endure the additional burden of disappointing their people and their God.1 Spiritual leadership focuses on values, a sense of calling, and motivating followers. It faces challenges that impact the performance of their organizations, such as church attendance, technology underutilization, growing diversity, and the increase of globalization. 2 Spiritual leaders endure many challenges that political and business leaders face. Blackaby suggested, “Churches require leaders who can not only overcome the enormous challenges but also attract new members and secure the necessary resources to finance an increasingly expensive organization.”3 Businesses require leaders to guide the organization strategically despite their many challenges. Spiritual leaders can use the same strategic skills found in strategic management to address challenges and achieve organizational success. Strategic management involves strategy and planning work to increase the value of an organization for its stakeholders.4 Kennedy et al. suggested, “successful organizations have found that a strategic management process helps them achieve their goals.”5 Effective spiritual leaders must complete the right work related to their goals to ensure their organizations accomplish God’s purposes.6 Some leaders are
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